Nick Gonnella
Greensburg Daily News
Rushville —
The North Decatur cross country teams ran their first races of the year Saturday morning, joining South Decatur and Greensburg in the 29th annual Rushville Classic.
The meet included seven races with more than 60 teams from Indiana and Ohio competing.
On the boys' side, the Pirates were 12th out of 20 teams. Union County's Tate Shienbein defended his title and won the Division II race in 16:19. Guerin Catholic earned the boys' D-II team title with 52 points.
In the girls' competition, Hayley Rogers of Hagerstown won in a time of 20:16, while the Batesville Bulldogs were the team champions with 85 points.
The South Decatur girls team boasted personal bests from all five runners.
North competed in Division 3, which consisted of 28 schools. The Lady Chargers placed sixth.
North Girls Results:
Victoria Leffel - (16th) 22:42
Kylee Laudick - (23rd) 23:10
Veronica Yager - (38th) 24:25
Iiris Kolunsarka - (60th) 26:06
Julia Ricke - (87th) 28:42
Marrissa Hipps - (96th) 29:58
Erica Wilson - (103rd) 33:54
The North boys placed 14th.
North Boys Results:
Anthony Bedel - (12th) 18:37
Ryan Root - (39th) 19:46
Tyler Menkedick - (62nd) 20:44
Lee Mirick - (109th) 22:45
Troy Kunkel - (110th) 22:51
Corden Simmonds - (122nd) 23:29
Kaleb Kramer - (126th) 23:38
Monroe Central won the 153-boy Division III race.
"I was very pleased with all our runners," said head coach Scott Johnson. "This was our first competition of the season, and all 14 of our runners improved their times significantly over what they had been running in practice. I think running against other runners besides ourselves helped tremendously. I was especially happy for Victoria Leffel and Anthony Bedel, who both placed in the Top 20 of their races and earned ribbons for thier performances.
North Decatur next competes this Tuesday, Aug. 31, at home versus Milan.
Pirates Compete In Division 2
The Pirates ran in Division 2 against more than 20 teams.
The Lady Pirates placed 16th out of 19 teams. Sophomore Tori Helms was 64th overall and led Greensburg with a time of 24:47, her best performance of the year. Freshman Erin Hamilton placed 68th in 24:59 improving her best time by more than four minutes. Ericka Carman was Greensburg's next runner to cross the finish line, placing 86th in 26:53. Senior Laura Kamman finished 94th in 27:04, lowering her personal best by about 2 minutes. Ashley Meredith was Greensburg's fifth runner on Saturday. She was 111th in 35:15.
Senior Ian Frink paced the Pirates with a 24th place finish in 18:28. Freshman Ethan Sebastian was Greensburg's second runner to finish. He placed 47th in 19:10, his best time of the year. Colin Evans was next for Greensburg. He finished 58th in 19:41. Scott Brown came in 97th for the Pirates. Scott crossed the finish line in 21:06 lowering his personal best by over 3:00. Tyler Luber placed 103rd in 21:28. Seniors Adrian Shellabarger and Christian Fox were 6th and 7th for Greensburg, respectively. Adrian placed 120th overall in 23:22 while Christian was 124th in 24:14.
In the open race, Derik McIntyre finished in a time of 24:34 to set a new personal best time. Senior Ben Meadows crossed the finish line in 25:28 to lower his PR by over 3:00.
Both Pirate teams returned to action on Tuesday when Greensburg hosts East Central, Hauser, and South Decatur in a 4-team meet. The first race begins at 5 p.m.
Lady Cougars Run Personal Bests Satuday
South Decatur's Kristy Hamilton led the Lady Cougars with a personal-best 23 minutes.
"I had all of my girls have their personal best on the season!" exclaimed South head coach Bethany Fromer.
South results:
Rylie Buening - 24:27 (pr)
Shelbi Baker - 27:32 (pr)
Julie Mapes - 28:45 (pr)
Emily Mapes - 28:47 (pr)
South Boys finish 40th Saturday
South Decatur's Cody Wamsley led the Cougars. He finished the race in 19:47 for a personal-best.
"Cody broke his personal best for the year and Blake Bennett was close, within tenths to breaking his personal best," said Fromer. "Every year this meet is great experience for the kids! It allows them to run against lots of other talent in the middle of the season to see where they are for the rest of the year."
South results:
Nolan Allen - 20:03
Evan Kirchner - 25:43
Brandon Overlock - 27:18
Blake Bennett - 27:32, three-tenths of a second from breaking a pr.
